-The Times of India The home ministry has sought amendments in the controversial Armed Forced Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the proposal is pending before the Cabinet Committee on Security with home minister P Chidambaram saying there should be three amendments to the insurgency law. "Three amendments should be made to the AFSPA. That is pending with the Cabinet Committee on Security,'' Chidambaram said. The minister was replying to questions about the United...

-Reuters   Cheap generic drugs were meant to change the life of Nandakhu Nissar, whose mouth is swollen by a cancerous tumour. But the cashless and hungry 55-year-old sleeps on a pavement staring up at the windows of Mumbai's biggest cancer hospital.  "What is a generic drug?" shrugs Nissar, who has travelled over 1,500 kms (900 miles) from his home in the hope of treatment. "I have borrowed money from friends and relatives...

-The Hindu   5.6 per cent of the households now comprise single couple There is a quantum jump in the number of families going nuclear in Andhra Pradesh in just about a decade (2001-2011) with 75.6 per cent of the households now comprising single couple, indicating a major societal shift from the traditional joint family system, Census 2011has revealed. The rate at which families are turning nuclear in the State could be gauged from...

-The Hindu   Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India March 12, 2012 Dear Prime Minister, We welcome the tabling of a National Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha as an important step towards the elimination of hunger and undernutrition in India. However, we feel that the Bill in its current form has some serious shortcomings. We are writing to propose a simpler and more effective framework for the Public Distribution System (PDS), which requires...

A young IPS officer who stood in the path of a tractor-trolley carrying illegally mined stones after the driver ignored his calls to stop was crushed to death under the vehicle in Madhya Pradesh yesterday. The death of Narendra Kumar, 30, has blown the lid off entrenched syndicates that cart off natural resources after carving up the mineral-rich regions of the state among themselves with alleged patronage from players belonging to...